Prevention of Exercise Induced Muscle Cramps

As an athlete proficient in the art of sweating and cramping I'm always on the lookout for a magic pill/substance that will prevent this disabling, painful problem. I've suffered severe cramps during a few marathons, typically in my calf muscles (gastrocnemius to you technical people) and at times extending to the soleus muscle.

 In my most embarrassing (ass being best part of that word) display of cramping I ended up DNFing at the Florida 1/2 IM several years ago. I was on the second loop of three in the half-marathon and caught up with my daughter on her first loop. It was hot, we were on a dusty path in the back nature trails of Walt Disney World alongside a "canal". I was suffering and had been for sometime. But I was a runner, this was the part of the event I was supposed to shine in. In the swim I was below average, the bike, maybe average, the run was my time. But now we were walking together and taking in fluids.
It was too late to make up for my dehydration. I told my daughter (Amanda) I needed to begin to run again. She didn't think that was such a good idea, that maybe I should just walk to the finish, I had plenty of time until the cutoff. No, I need to run, so I took off, for maybe 40 yards before falling in a heap clutching my right gastrocnemius. I was making noises, it may have been screaming, not sure now.
Luck was on my side.  A medical team was a few yards away and came right over as the left calf and then quads began severely cramping. Now I was making a scene. The team iced my legs, massaged the muscles and tried to get me up and moving. Whether physical, mental, or both, I just couldn't continue. My daughter went on as I was taken on a small medical cart back to the first aid tent and pumped with fluids.
Pete, a longtime runner and member of our Sal's Racing Team, suggested a long time ago that we drink Pickle Juice to stay hydrated during longer runs. The rest of us made fun of him, of course. Pickle Juice seemed disgusting to drink and ridiculous when there were so many commercial options available.
Now there are scientific studies that back up Pete's personal experiences. Never doubt Pete. Here is one section of the study;
 "Regardless of the trigger for ... (fatigue, dehydration, etc.), if cramps are of neurogenic origin, interventions that decrease persistent inward currents and motoneuron hyperexcitability may prevent EAMCs (cramps) from occurring or reduce their severity. This concept is supported by the observation that ingestion of pickle juice significantly reduces the duration of electrically induced muscle cramps (14). The consumption of pickle juice (1 ml/kg BW) immediately after the induction of electrically induced cramp of the flexor hallucis brevis muscle of the foot reduced cramp duration
compared to the consumption of deionized water. This experiment suggests that the ingestion of pickle juice triggered a neural reflex in the oropharyngeal space that activated spinal inhibitory neurons and reduced alpha motoneuron activity to the cramping muscle, lessening the duration of the cramp."
The entire article may be read via this link;

https://ezproxy.monroecc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=120915838&site=ehost-live I think switching to Pickle Juice is going to take some getting used to. I'm not sure the taste will be easy to tolerate, plus it will have to be kept cold or yechhh.

Pickle Juice

We should always trust the wisdom from fellow Sal's runner Father Time. For years Pete has promoted the use of pickle juice as the fluid replacement drink of choice during long runs or races. Now there is scientific proof to back up Father Time's homespun knowledge. An article in the New York Times summed up the results of a study:

"Pickle juice had “relieved a cramp 45 percent faster” than drinking no fluids and about 37 percent faster than water.
The pickle juice did not have time” to leave the men’s stomachs during the experiment, Mr. Miller points out. So the liquid itself could not have been replenishing lost fluids and salt in the affected muscles. Instead some other mechanism must have initiated the cramps and been stymied by the pickle juice.
Something in the acidic juice, perhaps even a specific molecule of some kind, may be lighting up specialized nervous-system receptors in the throat or stomach, he says, which, in turn, send out nerve signals that somehow disrupt the reflex melee in the muscles. Mr. Miller suspects that, ultimately, it’s the vinegar in the pickle juice that activates the receptors."

This ultimately means that we need to be diligent about saving the juice from our pickle jars and having pickle stops during our long runs on the canal path.